# Poll for Americans: Tutors, Test Prep, and Hiring Illegal Immigrants **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189 "2013-01-14T17:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/1 "2013-01-14T17:49:18Z")
In discussions about American education I often hear the claim that the middle and upper classes (sometimes specified as the _white_ middle/upper class, but we’ll leave this discussion race-neutral) have an unfair advantage in that so many of them use tutors and expensive test prep courses. Similarly, in talks about illegal immigration you can get the impression from people making a point about our reliance on such immigrants that practically every middle-class family has an undocumented Mexican nanny, not to mention a gardener, cook, and housekeeper. How true are either of these impressions, really? I grew up in a middle class family (arguably veering toward upper-middle class in my teenage years) and we had none of those things. No tutors, no test prep (aside from an SAT practice book checked out of the library), and no undocumented labor mowing our yard. (That’s what my brothers and I were for.) More to the point, I don’t remember anyone _else_ - relatives, friends, peers - having those things, either, with the exception of one family down the street who paid a high school kid to tutor their son in math. Is that so unusual? Have things changed since I was a kid? (I’m 32.) Is it a regional thing? So how about you: did you or your family employ tutors, test prep, or illegal immigrants? Did many people in your neighborhood? \*\*Please note that I’m not denying the effect of income inequality on education, or the role of illegal immigrants in the workforce, which I’m sure my family benefited from indirectly. I’m just specifically curious about the activities outlined above. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/2 "2013-01-14T19:26:24Z")
I am the same age as the OP. Test prep has become much more ubiquitous than it was in the 90s when I was in high school. I never took a test-prep course, and I don’t think any of my friends did (and I was hanging out with the kids who were college/ivy-league bound). I don’t think I had even really heard of such a thing. Now, in the schools in which I work (which includes the one I graduated from) there are always announcements about SAT-prep classes and that sort of thing going on. My impression has been that tutors/prep classes which have generally been the purview of the upper-middle class and social elite have trickled down to the middle-middle class, as parents are so panicked about their kids getting into school and being employable that they’re willing to throw away thousands of dollars to shysters so their children can have an “edge.” I don’t think I knew anyone who employed immigrant labor for housework, but I do know that farms even here in VT depend heavily on migrant workers. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/3 "2013-01-14T19:46:47Z")
My parents would never have hired household or yard help of any kind, legal or illegal, ever. It would not have been frugal. Tutors or SAT prep classes were not common when my sister and I were of the age when that mattered, but we were both academically gifted. She was a straight A student all through high school, and I usually had 98 or 99th percentile on standardized tests, so that would not have been necessary. Besides, it would not have been frugal to hire a tutor or pay for a class. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/4 "2013-01-14T19:52:04Z")
It may not be a good idea to admit, albeit in a supposedly anonymous setting, to doing something illegal. ---
**Author:** ![aag3981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@aag3981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aag3981)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/5 "2013-01-14T20:06:38Z")
I was in high school/college in the late 90’s and early 00’s and it was rare in highschool but more common in college. I knew several people taking test prep courses for things like the GRE or the LSAT. I have never hired a person to tutor, but I have done a virtual tutor in the past to help my kids with school. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/6 "2013-01-14T20:23:37Z")
I took a SAT test prep class in high school. It did raise my SAT score 150 points. We were middle class, we only ever hired household help once, it was a special circumstance, we were moving and my mother had an emergency hysterectomy, so she hired a company to clean the house . I never had a tutor. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/7 "2013-01-14T20:38:50Z")
Technically, I did have an illegal immigrant tutor in the 70s and 80s who also cooked and cleaned for the family, but Mom didn’t get a paycheck for that. For a while we also had a woman who came in once a week to clean, but she was a legal resident. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/8 "2013-01-15T00:44:05Z")
When we decided to go for housekeeping services, we contracted with a company rather than with an individual, precisely to avoid any issue of hiring an undocumented worker. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/9 "2013-01-15T01:28:18Z")
The help was either Africa-American or Anglo-American. All citizens. Not really needed, but _dropdad_’s bosses were old-school Virginians and sorta expected it. SAT tutors are for pussies. SAT prep should consist of, at most, not being hung over. It’s a test of your knowledge and test-taking skillz, both of which you should have built up in your first eleven years of school. The rise of SAT prep has cheapened what a high score should mean. But I have no opinion on it. ---
**Author:** ![Weeping\_Wyvern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@Weeping\_Wyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeping_Wyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/10 "2013-01-15T01:32:46Z")
My parents bought me a bunch of SAT practice tests, but we never paid for a tutor or a course. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/11 "2013-01-15T10:54:24Z")
Not when I was a kid, but as parents we’ve done the following: Hired tutors and extra private classes for both kids, to help them over humps in middle/high school. Paid for extra training specific to both ACT and SAT tests to boost their scores. These were from a company that had the actual test questions, and drilled them on how to derive/calculate the answers. It wasn’t rote memorization, each wrong answer was followed by a lesson on that particular subject. In the reading/composition stuff, there was tutoring as to what expectations were likely from the graders. The before and after results proved it to be a good investment. Also for college admissions, we’ve hired a placement firm to examine and help with admissions documents and essays, advise on the best ways to apply for scholarships and aid, and even set a timeline for when to fill out FAFSA, applications, etc. Since one kid is aiming for med school, they’ve also helped with the research into demographics, and probabilities at various schools (due to race-based admissions). IMO, it has been well worth it. Our kids don’t qualify for any need-based help due to our income level, but so far they’ve cut the price of the 3 private colleges we’re considering by more than half (we have a HS senior starting univ next fall). So far, we’ve gotten about a 10X return on this “investment”. We had a nanny when the kids were young, but she was paid up front with all taxes deducted per the law. No illegals in our employ. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-americans-tutors-test-prep-and-hiring-illegal-immigrants/647189/12 "2013-01-15T17:14:52Z")
Not even close for any of them, but we were definitely not middle class or above.